Mauna a Wākea: Whose culture is the most important?

Have you ever
felt so connected to a piece of earth that you can feel the appreciation in
your heart swell? Or perhaps you envision that place in your mind, recollecting
the memories, and become very upset at the idea of it no longer being there? What
if I told you that the connection you feel to this land is just imagined in
your mind, and has no material precedence and should become developed for Western
intellectual pursuits? Would you feel devastated?

I like to keep myself up to date with the controversies surrounding natural and sacred spaces, and their ongoing protection and destruction from capitalist developments. Divergent concepts and understandings of culture around the world have laid the groundwork for multiple controversies surrounding environmental protections, the rights of nature and climate change; from the protection of water at Standing Rock, the scheming of the Australian government to bulldoze 800 year-old sacred Djab Wurring trees, to El Salvador becoming the first country to recognise the inherent rights of natural forests. I think it is important for all beginner anthropologists to consider how different understandings of culture play into these debates.

Recently on October 30, 2018, the Supreme Court of
Hawaii approved the building permit for the Thirty Meter Telescope on top of
the sacred Hawai’ian mountain, Mauna a Wākea. This decision came after
years of legal battles between the Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawai’ians) and
scientists, as well as multiple country stakeholders (India, China, Japan and
Canada).

“A panorama of the Milky Way from Mauna Kea, Hawaii. From left, University of Hawaii 2.2 Meter Telescope, Mauna Kea Summit, Kilauea Volcano under cloud cover and Mauna Loa.”Mauna Kea

The Kanaka Maoli and environmentalists opposed the development
of the giant telescope because it would be built on one of the most sacred
natural locations in Hawaiian culture. The Mauna a Wākea is a sacred
mountain for the Kanaka Maoli. Wākea, sometimes translated as “Sky
Father”, is considered the father for many of their peoples and in other
respects the “piko, umbilical cord, or centre of existence for Hawaiians”
(Sacred Mauna Kea 2015, p.1). The summit is a sacred place for their spiritual
connectedness, practices and sense of oneness with the earth – all of which are
fundamental elements of their culture (Ibid).

Many of the telescope’s
stakeholders failed to acknowledge the importance Mauna a Wākea had in
Hawaiian culture and instead, focused on the scientific exploration and
commercial production that the telescope would bring. This was evident in the
TMT International Observatory’s commitment to “a new paradigm of development on
Mauna Kea founded on integrating culture, science, sustainability and education”
(TMT 2017, p.1). Their investment in the TMT,
as the largest telescope in the Northern Hemisphere, was ultimately embedded in
their desire to bolster Western cultural and astronomical contributions.

This opposition between the
worldviews and values of the TMT and the Kanaka Maoli brings into question: What
counts as culture and who determines what cultural perspectives “win” in
developmental conflicts?

The struggle over Mauna a Wākea is a struggle
over the meaning and making of sacred places, nature and Indigenous cultures. Native
Hawai’ian scholar, Marie Alohalani Brown (2016), describes that the kinship
relations between the Kanaka Maoli and the island-world environment are not
validated by the West unless they are materially visible. She states, “The
Hawaiian Islands…[and] culture is something to be enjoyed as long as it is
presented in a form that is palatable, saleable, and consumable” (Brown 2016,
p.166). The traditions and sacred elements of Indigenous cultures are
recognised insofar as they do not limit the economic and cultural projects that
strengthen Western domination.

The western ideologies of scientific exploration and
commercial exploitation are imposed on the Kanaka Maoli by the TMT as being for
‘the better good of humanity and culture’. This prioritisation of western
thinking is clear in the Hawaiian Supreme Court’s decision to approve the
construction of the telescope – it alludes to how scientific discoveries and
explorations have become a fundamental aspect of Western culture that is
treated with the upmost regard. This is completely at odds with the spiritual
relationship to Mauna a Wākea and the island world that is central to
Native Hawaiian culture – the sacredness is not merely a concept or label as
perceived by those holding the western ideologies. The sacredness of the
mountain stems from their understanding of it as a kin relative – “Sky Father” –
which they maintain a sacred and traditional relationship with. The mountain is,
in many respects, a lived experience that is representative of the Kanaka Maoli’s
connection to the natural and spiritual worlds (Brown 2016, p.166).

This is evidently a highly contested space, within and beyond, the anthropology discipline. But these cultural complexities leave us with some key anthropological questions to ponder: what ‘counts as culture’ in our Western society? And who decides whether nature is incorporated into these understandings and protections of ‘culture’?